A couple of weeks ago there was a hot topic of using a crossbow in our state…. Dozens of opinions and many people worried it would have a big impact on the deer. Is anyone using a crossbow now that it is legal for everyone??? If so, any success that you think is directly related to the crossbow over your old recurve/compound bow? Just curious…

A friend of mine who is now a proven idiot bought one this year. He’s old enough to use it all season but can still pull 62 lbs on his bow. He wounded a nice 140 class 10 with a 40+ yard shot to the liver cause he thought he could “hit” it! No recovery! 2 weeks later he shot a nice non typical we’ve been hunting for 2 years with the same yardage and same results! That false sense of confidence is really paying off! He said “I never even could have hit him with my bow”.
The sad part is this is just one guy with a Xrifle and there’s over a month left in the season.

WOW! This truly amazes me! An IDIOT is a strong word. I do understand your use of it in the scenario. From your (from my perspective) very biased opinion against xbows you are blaming it on the weapon. You called the guy an idiot. Has nothing to do with the weapon but a person that doesn’t know his limitations with his weapon of choice or chooses not to acknowledge them in hopes of getting a kill. Do you have any idea of how many deer I am aware of that are wounded by “idiots” using bows or guns each year? I am totally amazed at such an attitude expressed, yet that is the beauty of our nation YOU are free to express your very biased “idiotic” view in my opinion…

Work sucks. I’m back in the recliner (or office chair) doing some armchair hunting for the remainder of the season. I have some family that are still bow hunting. Of my family, only my father uses the xbow, and he was ‘grandfathered’ in after an injury nearly 20 years ago. He’s been hunting with xbow for nearly 20 years and never fails to bag something year after year. I don’t hate the xbow. Different year, different circumstances, I might use one. Not for a while though.

It is not the xbows that make the bad shots, it is the hunters behind the weapon. Just found a gut shot large 8pt. on our land from shot gun season. That was a bad shot from a gun hunter. Not the weapon, just the person using it not taking the time to really make sure of a good hit.

I got a x bow 2 years ago because I had a bad rotator cuff. Shot a nice 15 point in October 2010. Thing shoots like a gun. I had surgery last December ,have not even shot it this year. I want to go back to my bow. Have nothing bad to say about it . It helped me still be able to hunt. Bottom line . There are too many seasons for what few deer we have . I will not be participating in the late season xbow hunt or the late season shot gun hunt to do my part in my area . Let the girls live.

My uncle has used one for years, due to shoulder injury. He absolutely loves it. Gets a couple every year, but waits for a good shot. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but you’re right, its not the weapon. Whether it is a Xbow, bow, or shotgun, all have a chance to “wound” a deer, instead of a good kill shot. I know I haven’t been able to find a deer I’ve shot. It happens probably more than we know. There will be critics no matter what you do.

We probably have all used the phrase guns don’t kill people, people kill people. I know this is kind of comparing apples to oranges in a way but the xbow doesn’t make bad shots the shooter does. I am sure there are some bow hunters that hardley ever practice or buy a new bow and practice with it before hunting. And the same goes for a shotgun, I have actually talked to guy’s that shotgun hunt and asked if they shot anything or seen a deer and got the reply, no but I made a few sound shots, WHAT? well I didn’t see any deer but I heard something in the brush and shot at it. Incredible! The new xbow hunters just needs to learn and if they are new hunters we need to teach them, not turn our backs on them. If they are new to deer hunting, they need to be tought how to track a wounded deer. You all should know what I am getting at with out going into detail. It’s not their fault the shape the deer herd is in and maybe in the long run their voices will help ours be heard in the upper management of the DNR and the Govenor’s office. Xbow hunting is the law now, maybe it will change but I doubt it. What we really don’t need is three groups of deer hunters, people like us that bow and shotgun, the shotgun only group and the Xbow only group. Honestly I can’t say if I am for or against the Xbow, I just have to wait and see and what happens. I am not against getting more people into hunting deer, its their freedom in our country to have that right like us, it’s just the managing of the herd from the same ones that put the law into effect that concers me.

berlin, well stated! I do not own an xbow myself and have no plans on buying one. However I realize I do not have a monopoly on the outdoors. The deer are NOT mine. I couldn’t agree more with the adage used as guns don’t kill people! The weapon is not the issue in managing the herd. The people who make the laws or sell the tags in large part do NOT kill many deer. It is of the utmost importance to shoot and only shoot when a clean kill is the expected outcome and one must certainly identify the target to know that not only what you are shooting but the kill zone. Yes we should be teaching this along with proper tracking. Don’t shoot without total expectations of a clean kill shot. Even at this point it is up to us (hunters) to manage the herd, hopefully we have the understanding we can not depend upon those in Springfield nor Washington to fix it, they are not trust worthy in large part. Often people crying the most are the biggest issue, how many deer have you harvested? Not a question to type an answer but a question we ought to be asking ourselves and if the heard can tolerate the number of kills we are participating in?

I am not growing to throw stones I don’t care what hunters shoot or what they hunt for, as long as they do the best they can and legally. But your right, it’s up to each one of us, where we live to do what is right and do what we can in that area. It is hard though, you have 40-80 acres and all the hunters around you don’t care then your a grain of sand on the beach. Where I live pretty much all of us that hunt in the immediate area are pretty much on the same page which is cool. You know it’s kind of funny, I posted a question here a little while ago about if anyone would change their hunting habits in areas that was hit hard with EHD and hardly got a response. I don’t know if they really didn’t care and reply or that as long as they got their’s so what, it was up to the other hunters to do their part. If a guy has never hunted and wants to start Xbow hunting for deer, good for him. What’s the difference between them and someone that posts all the time here teaching their kid to hunt? ZERO! There both going to make the same mistakes learning to hunt.

I cant blame a person for wanting to try a crossbow. I bought one myself after reading several articles in hunting magazines and just thought I would like to try one out. So far I haven’t used it but must admit I can feel it calling me. I have noticed that the outdoor magazines have been featuring more and more articles about crossbow hunting and less articles on more traditional types of bow hunting, even the advertisements for crossbows out numbered the compound bow. I think it is just human nature to want to hunt with the newest thing coming out just the same as what happened when they started to produce the newer black powder guns, now most hunters shoot the in-line shotgun primer model and have abandoned the percussion capped side locks. I remember as a kid reading an article in Field & Stream many years ago about how the use of the new LCD fish finders would soon ruin the lakes because the fish could no longer hide from the fisherman, now days you see a boat with a LCD on it and no one even gives it a second thought and yet the lakes still have fish. I am sure the same thing happened when they introduced the rifled slug barrel or the spinning wing decoy.

AK47 season will be next! Keep being a pacifist and see where it gets you! Hunters will have more rights than inmates someday with what I’m hearing! Whatever works I guess! Let’s eliminate the bow season and just unleash chemical warfare on all wildlife! Let’s make it user friendly for everyone with a nuke to a fire cracker! Forget about archery! That’s not easy! Why do that?